A female resident or inhabitant of a city; the feminine form of 'cites' or a female citizen of a city.
From 'cite' (an archaic or dialect form meaning city) plus the feminine suffix '-ess,' which creates female nouns from male base words (like actress from actor or waitress from waiter).
The -ess suffix for feminine nouns, once productive in English (actress, hostess, waitress), is falling out of favor because it can feel condescending or unnecessarily gendered, which is why we now just say 'actor' and 'host' for all genders, showing how language evolves around social attitudes.
-ess suffix feminizes nouns historically, often patronizingly or to mark women's roles as secondary to male defaults (cf. actress, waitress). This particular formation is archaic.
Avoid gendered suffixes; use role-neutral terms like 'citer' for all genders.
["citer"]
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